10/13/08

Shotgun Wedding!

Okay - visualize this with me, girls - it's Thursday night, 10:30 p.m., I'm getting ready to go to bed when I get a phone call from my girl Denise (she is our Relief Society President). She asked if it's possible to put together a wedding by Saturday for a couple in our ward (church). (that's 1 1/2 days, folks) She let me know that they don't have any money, it can be something very simple, but something to make the day special. The reason for the haste: The groom, fresh from Marine Corps boot camp, is shipping out on Tuesday for some more military training, so the poor couple wanted to get married before he left in order for her to join him when he's done.

Now this is where most people would panic but I got a surge of electricity through me because this could be FUN! I told Denise that it is ABSOLUTELY possible and this bride better like Fall colors because that's what she's getting! Naturally, I enlisted my girl Kadie and the three of us set to work on making a game plan. Also, there weren't going to be very many in attendance, so that also made this party quite easy.

Here's what we came up with in a couple of hours on Friday:

Food:Dinner In a Pumpkin (SO good - you have to try this before Fall is over!)Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake BarsChocolate Eclair DessertFruit TraysSparkling CiderFrench Bread(Thanks, Jen, for assigning everything out - and thanks ladies, wherever you are, for making, baking, and shaking for us!)

Decor:Fall, Fall, FallPumpkinsWhite lightsDim lighting with lampsPlatters, cake stands, ANYTHINGWhatever we have at home - and between Kadie and I, we stripped our homes of every piece of decor and made the place quite cozy!

(honestly, people, we had to turn a seriously ugly room into something sort of pretty...big task but manageable...)

So here's our ugly gym - and all of our junk.

Hard workin' ladies - Kadie and Denise

More junk...

Our centerpiece: Floral pumpkins

I spent about $60 on some clearance fall foliage and we clipped everything apart into piles. From there, Kadie and Denise stuffed the flowers into a pumpkin with the top cut off. We didn't have time to clean out the guts - we just stuffed! Normally, I'm sure you'd want to clean out the seeds and such.

They did great, eh?! I also had a bunch of these berry garlands that we encircled around the base of each pumpkin, along with acorns from my back yard. (I paid my kids $1.00 to gather as many as they could...haha!)

And here's our finished table. That tiny little cake in the back is all I had time for! Everybody we knew was either watching kids or baking themselves, so that left NOBODY to do a cake - which is fine. I found a cute little cake at the store, added some flowers, and that's what they got.

And, yes, those are paper plates you're seeing in the corner but don't judge me! We had no budget for cute plates! (besides, they match the decor...)

With a little bit of magic and floral tape, I put together a cake top and a couple of boutonnieres for the men. I'll give a tutorial on that when I get some time. (Heaven only knows that I've got plenty of leftover scraps.)

(The cake top is wet because I had to wash off the frosting...but you get the idea.)

All in all, I spent about $100, maybe $150 (I lost count, actually) on pumpkins, foliage, and a little food.

We all spent roughly 9 hours total on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. - unloading junk, decorating, ironing table cloths (you rock Denise), decorating, decorating, getting dressed quickly, serving food during the wedding, and then disassembling everything, cleaning the kitchen, then re-loading our vehicles so we could go home. We rock.

Was it worth it, you might ask? You bet it was. The groom, who is a sweet young man in our ward, had no idea it was possible to make the gym look so nice! He was SO very thankful and hugged all of us who worked so hard. We later learned that the couple had no expectations of a nice wedding since it was such late notice.

Great things can happen when we get the girls together! Not pictured are many, many other people who contributed to this event - thanks everyone!

What an incredible gift for that couple! I imagine that starting a life together amidst a lot of chaos and uncertainty could be terrifying. I'm sure you blessed them with a peaceful and thoughtful reception. They will always remember your care! What a gift!!

I don't even know you and I cried! I linked over from a friend's blog, and I LOVE to read your stuff. Especially loving the recipes. This story just goes to show you that a bunch of RS sisters can accomplish just about ANYTHING in 24 hours! You rock!

What a beautiful, intimate celebration! I think gatherings are always more special when they are put together by people with caring hearts. :)Thanks so much for sharing that!Karifrom thebabsblog.blogspot.com

you don't know me but you and your team are amazing to pull that off. It looked wonderful and I love the fall colors and pumpkins. I'm sure that couple is so grateful for all your hard work and making their wedding so special. Thanks for inspiring me to be more serving.

Oh my gosh! You ladies are incredible!!!!! That is the Relief Society in motion if I ever saw it! You should submit your story to be a video for a General RS Meeting! I mean it! That was INCREDIBLE!!! Wish you were my visiting teachers! Heck - even just in my stake! :)

WOW! Aren't you glad that you have had a lot of decorating experience. It looked really good. Don't tell anyone I said this, but I don't think six sisters could have done much better. I love the floral pumpkins.

Abby, you are so inspiring. You had a great crew too. You may never know how much that meant to the couple. It looks incredible. Your a Supermom! Want to give a shoutout to your mom to for the tutorials. What a great example she passed on down to you and look what your passing on to your kiddos. Very touching. Like I told you Martha Stewart's got nothin' on you. You Rock!!!!!

WOW! Thanks, everyone! Honestly - I think anyone in this situation would have done the same thing! And, let me assure you, that I was not the mastermind behind this project - Kadie came up with all of the good ideas!

Wow! I don't know you but today my google reader suggested your blog and so I headed over to check it out. I'm absolutely blown away by the gorgeous job you and your friends did to make this wedding special! Heck, it looks better than my own reception did and my family and I had months to plan, ha ha. And I know how hard it is to get a gym to look great (I'm LDS, too). Way to go!!!

I love the fall colors. We did the flowers in a pumpkin for a YW activity a few weeks ago. Yours look a little better than ours!! I LOVE meal in a pumpkin. I'm going to use your recipe for our neighborhood party next week. You must have an amazing ward and a great group of friends to pull this off. Kind of makes me wish I were back in Grand Blanc. Until I think of Winter. Way to go, Girls!

abby, you are wonderwoman. That decorating job is amazing! Incredibly done - and with such a little amount of time and money!!! I would have died, but as always, you rose to the occasion. What an awesome gift you gave that couple!

WOW, I think that turned out AWESOME!! Everything looks so beautiful. I can't believe how quickly you were able to do everything.

PS- I found your blog on mormom moms who blog, do you mind if I put some of your pictures from this wedding on my blog to show ideas for Thanksgiving decorating? Let me know:) www.placeforinspiration.blogspot.com

That is the sweetest story! I'm sure that couple will talk about their incredible wedding for many years to come. And it just goes to show what one can do with a tiny budget and a lot of motivation. Everything is beautiful!

I would've loved to have helped with that - how FUN!!! You did an amazing job with your time frame and budget, what a wonderful gift for that couple! You never forget your wedding day and now they have something special to look back on!

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{Abby} @ A Feathered Nest

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A Little About Me...

Living in Sunny Arizona, I stay at home, take care of kids, and try to stay sane. I love chocolate, good movies, being active, and of course, my family. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I work in the Primary as the Primary Chorister. {and I can't sing....so....it gets awkward....}